The Easy Part is Over

It is going to be harder to find new customers for a long time into the future. Old style, old school thinking will not get the results your dealership needs to survive.

Example: "Let’s get a weekend ad in the paper and generate some business"

Reality check: Less than 27% of all households subscribe to a newspaper. That means 73% of all households don’t even see the ad you paid for. What are you doing to reach them?

Example: "Let’s buy some leads"

Reality Check: Selling the same lead to eight dealers is customary practice. Most lead providers don’t enable the dealer to independently verify the source or quality of the leads. Why? Because leads are resold and traded among providers, each of whom resells them as many times as possible. Of course, you are being told you are the first and only sale of the leads.

Example: "Let’s buy some spots on TV"

Reality Check: How many 30 second spots are inserted in the standard 6AM-12PM time slot on a cable provider with 150 channels? 86,400! If you pay for 10 spots/day, your odds of reaching the eyes of the customer are approx 1 in 8,600.

Example: "Mail is too expensive"

Reality Check: Nothing is more expensive than an ad your customer doesn’t see. Every household has only one mailbox, your ad will be seen if you put it there.